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Bernard Madoff, convicted of running an $65 billion Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in jail. What’s your take on his punishment?

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By Knight Kiplinger

The Kiplinger Washington Editors

July 2, 2009

By year-end or so, Congress will give the nod to a major rewriting of the nation's financial regulatory system. This week’s Kiplinger Letter explores whether the package will do more harm than good and what lawmakers are likely to include.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: The Economy, Business Costs, Taxes, Supreme Court, Energy, Workplace Regulations, Climate Change, Health Care Legislation and Foreign Policy

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I just attended a franchise seminar. The speaker represents a few hundred franchises that (he says) are hand picked. He has the prospect (aka victim?) answer some questions about themselves then he makes recomendations - based on your personality, capital situation, etc.. If you pick a franchise, then he does some due dilligence for you. If you both decide it's a good idea, he helps you get started. He says he offers this service free of charge, which means he gets a commission if he's able to sell you a franchise. Has anyone done this? Successfully? Unsuccessfully?

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What's Propping Up the U.S. Economy?

The twin blasts of soaring energy costs and the subprime crisis should have blown a hole in the economy. Are two our favorite villains, oil sheikhs and China, the reason it's still afloat?

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger

December 2007

George Friedman

CEO, Stratfor

George Friedman, a recognized expert and author on national security and intelligence issues, is the CEO of Stratfor (short for Strategic Forecasting Inc.), the world’s leading private intelligence company. Founded in 1996, Stratfor delivers to its clients real-time intelligence, analysis and forecasts on geopolitical, economic, security and public policy issues.

Of all the uncertainties about the economy, one particularly baffling question sticks out: Why isn't it worse yet? Given the subprime crisis and oil stubbornly nagging at the $100-a-barrel mark, why, when similar past shocks have caused economic tumult, haven't the stock and bond markets tanked? Perhaps we just haven't arrived at that point and the worst is yet to come.

George Friedman, the founder and head of the private intelligence and analysis firm Stratfor, may have an answer. He suspects that the wealth of China and the Persian Gulf oil states may be what's keeping the economy so buoyant. "It is the only explanation for what we are seeing," Friedman writes. "The markets should be selling off like crazy, given the financial problems. They are not. They keep bouncing back, no matter how hard they are driven down. That money is not coming from the financial institutions and hedge funds that got ripped on mortgages. But it is coming from somewhere. We think that somewhere is the land of $90-per-barrel crude and really cheap toys."

Pumping cash back into the U.S. economy and markets is not out of compassion or some sinister plot to control U.S. businesses and assets, he says. Like most economics, it's a matter of simple self-interest. Much of the wealth of China and the Arab oil states is tied directly to the dollar "and the last thing they want to do is sell those dollars in sufficient quantity to drive the dollar's price even lower." And Friedman says the situation should not be seen as a sign of American decline or weakness. "When others must invest in the United States, however, they are not the ones with the power. The United States is."

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